Proportionality in minature displays

Abstract

In a word processing system having a keyboard display for data entry and modification, and a printer with a choice of pitch, the technique is presented for displaying on less than the entire CRT screen a representation of a full page of text being processed. The full page representation is in fact visually proportional to the yet unproduced printed output. The full page representation is made possible by using a 2×4 character representation structure to represent an 8×16 normal character. Proportionality within the represented data is achieved by displaying particular character representations more than once. The interval between multiply displayed representations is a function of the output pitch with which proportionality is desired and the size of a dot on the CRT screen.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. For use in a word processing system including a keyboard, a display, a main memory, a display memory, and a printer with multiple pitch options, the improvement in text display method comprising the steps of: (1) displaying at least a portion of at least one full size line of text;   (2) at the same time as step 1, displaying a miniature full page representation comprising miniature character indicators arranged to reflect format of the represented text; and   (3) varying the horizontal spacing between miniature character indicators within the miniature full page representation in accordance with the pitch chosen.   
     
     
       2. The method of claim 1 wherein the horizontal spacing between the miniature character indicators is varied as a function of the ratio of the width to height of a dot on said display. 
     
     
       3. The method of claim 1 wherein the said horizontal spacing between the miniature character indicator is varied as a function of the pitch chosen and the width to height ratio of a dot on the display screen. 
     
     
       4. The method of claim 3 wherein the varying step includes multiple display of every Nth character indicator, N having a predetermined value as a function of output pitch, and the width and height of a dot on the display screen. 
     
     
       5. In a system including a display having interlaced scanning, a keyboard, a system memory in which text data is entered and modified, and a display memory for refreshing the display, improved text processing apparatus for displaying a properly formatted and proportional to an actual page miniature full page representation on less than the entire display including: means for storing the display memory an indicator for each character in the text in said system memory;   means for displaying miniature character symbols as a function of scan number and the value of the indicator in said display memory;   means for monitoring the number of character indicators during display; and   means responsive to an operator chosen pitch for printing for varying the spacing between miniature character symbols by multiply displaying every Nth miniature character symbol, where the value of N is determined as a function of the pitch chosen, and the width and height of a dot on the CRT screen.   
     
     
       6. The system of claim 5 wherein said miniature character symbols are formed in a matrix which is in size an integral fraction of a full size character matrix. 
     
     
       7. Apparatus for use in a word processing system including a keyboard, a display, a main memory, display memory, and a printer with multiple pitch options, the improvement for text display comprising: (1) means for displaying at least a portion of at least one full size line of text;   (2) means for displaying simultaneously with said portion of said full size line a miniature full page representation comprising miniature character indicators arranged to reflect format of the represented text; and   (3) means for varying the horizontal spacing between miniature character indicators within the miniature full page representation as a function of the pitch chosen.   
     
     
       8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the means for varying further includes means for varying the horizontal spacing as a function of the ratio of the width to height ratio of a dot on said display. 
     
     
       9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the means for varying includes means for producing the multiple display of every Nth character indicator, N having a value predetermined as a function of the chosen pitch and the width and height of the dot on the display screen.